Jean-Marie Severance, MS, an Operations Manager for the academic divisions of EHS (Education & Human Studies) and SSB (Stiller School of Business), speaks to us about the importance of cultivating a culture of well-being in the workplace. She explains that employees bring their whole selves to work with them. The parts of them that were all up night with a sick child are here, the parts dealing with an aging parent during a pandemic, as well as the parts that woke up to a broken (and very costly) hot water heater. Jean-Marie discusses the importance of bringing humanness into leadership, meaning to refrain from blame and to encourage "falling up" from mistakes and failures by viewing these as something to be learned from. She also emphasizes the importance of true community, "breaking bread" with much needed organized lunches just to hang out with colleagues, as well as the idea that we all need to be seen and heard. When it comes down to it, we all need to feel valued. Valued employees are happy employees, and happy employees are productive employees.
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